Jeff Pulver has a short post about the Power of Voice and how the media may not always see voice as an application, but only as platforms.
When I look at services like Jangl, TalkPlus, GrandCentral, iotum, Roam4Free, Skype, GizmoProject, Truphone, Jaxtr, Sitofono and others I see both the smartness of the platform, but also how the concept of voice as an application or an enabler clearly coming though loud and clear.
One of the the issues as a marketer we constantly struggle with are applications "products" or "services." Well they're both and voice as an application can be a service or a product because both are consumed.
In another post about the mess around Free Conference calling, blocking of calls by the mobile operators Jeff throws his years of dealing with the FCC into the mix by calling it what it is. Arbitrage, a game the carriers have been playing for years. The problem is that others figured out the game too, as Jeff subtly points out.
What is happening today is there is no doubt in my mind that many a budding entrepreneur with a big idea decides to go into battle with the carriers. As a matter of fact most would enjoy having the carriers as customers, but unfortunately protectionism is rampant at the RBOCs and as such they think "no" not the way I think when I say "no" which is "I have to figure out how to work that in." Progressive thinking business find ways to take new ideas in and nurture them. Companies that know how to evolve do too. Those that are heading to the bone yards don't.
In a third post Jeff talks about the past ten years and in my mind how it shapes the future for many of us. VoIP is hardly a fad, and what we have today are only a sprinkling of what's to come.
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